Lou Stokes - the congressman, leading lawyer and towering political presence has died

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Louis Stokes, whose iconic career in public life assures him a place as one of the most revered, respected and powerful figures in Cleveland history, died Tuesday night.

He was 90.

The older brother of former Mayor Carl B. Stokes had an aggressive form of cancer, diagnosed in late June.

A proud, personable and gracious man whose dress and manner exuded dignity, Stokes never wanted to be a politician, aspiring instead to become Cleveland's leading black lawyer.

But the reluctant officeholder who came to Congress in 1969 left it 30 years later as a towering political figure both in Washington and at home.

Mayor Frank Jackson was one of dozens to publicly mourn the death of his longtime friend.

"Congressman Louis Stokes' long career in public life was a model of how to serve with dignity, integrity and honor," Jackson said. "His service paved the way for many who would follow in both public and private careers. I know full well that, but for him, I would have never had the opportunity to become mayor."

For more than three decades, Stokes, his brother, former Council President George Forbes, and former Cleveland School Board President Arnold Pinkney dominated every aspect of black political life in the city.

Now, only Forbes survives.

"The four of us had parallel careers in public life," Forbes said. "It was not unusual for some of the things we did or said to be questioned. But not Lou Stokes. If he said it, or did it, it was like a pronouncement from Sinai. It was the gospel. It was the last word. No one disagreed with him."

Stokes' resume in the House included stints as chairman of the select committee that from 1976 to 1978 investigated the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., chairman of the House Ethics Committee, a member of the House select committee that investigated the Iran-Contra affair, and the first black to chair the Intelligence Committee and serve on the influential House Appropriations Committee.

In 1993, Stokes reached the height of his power in Congress, joining the prestigious "College of Cardinals" when he became chair of the Appropriations subcommittee for the Veterans Administration and Housing and Urban Development. It was a position that gave Stokes enormous say in how and where tens of billions in federal dollars were spent. The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center on East 105th Street is one of several Cleveland buildings named in his honor.

But his enthusiasm for the job would soon wane. In 1994, Republicans took control of the House. Two years later, at age 71, Stokes had open heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic and a tumor removed from his vocal cords.

When, in April 1996, Carl Stokes died of cancer, Stokes lost his best friend.

The denouement

By 1998, after 30 years in office, Stokes decided not to seek re-election.

On the day he announced his retirement, Plain Dealer columnist Elizabeth Auster wrote, "Stokes brought more than money home from Washington. He also brought laughter and inspiration and pride. And sometimes those are harder to come by."

Then-Cleveland Mayor Michael White said of Stokes, "Someone will fill his seat, but I don't think anyone will ever fill his shoes."

It was always a foregone conclusion Stokes' job would pass to Stephanie Tubbs Jones, county prosecutor at the time. When Tubbs Jones died unexpectedly in 2008, Marcia Fudge became only the third person to hold the seat.

In retirement, Stokes became senior counsel at the Cleveland-based law firm of what was then Squire Sanders & Dempsey. He served on several corporate boards, including Forest City Enterprises.

When asked in the July interview about the lack of civility in Washington today, Stokes said he was sometimes embarrassed to be a former member of Congress.

"I have members of Congress whom I see, on both sides of the aisle, and they tell me, 'Louie, you wouldn't want to be here now.' It's a waste of your time and intellect to be involved there now and see how difficult it is to concentrate on doing what's best for people -- considering you were sent there to help people. That's gone now."

Stokes retired from the law firm in 2012, and resigned from the Forest City board last year. In recent months, he spent time assisting his daughter, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes, who is contesting disciplinary charges filed against her by the Ohio Supreme Court's Disciplinary Counsel.

Besides Angela, he is survived by his wife of 55 years, Jeanette (Jay); daughter Shelley Stokes-Hammond, retired public affairs director at Howard University; daughter Lori, a television news anchor in New York City; son Chuck, editorial and public affairs director at a Detroit television station; and seven grandchildren.